It is now medically understood that *skin barrier damage and dry, itchy skin are intricately linked and form the basis of many common skin diseases. Published 2019 by Acta Derm Venereol

Whether you have chronic dry skin, dermatitis, eczema or psoriasis, your skin is not able to produce oils and protect your body like normally functioning skin. 

Therefore, learning how to maintain a healthy skin barrier is the most basic and important practice for you to master.

The reason we say "practice" is because learning what your skin needs, how often and when takes practice and changes over time.

It is a common misunderstanding that moisturising skin is replenishing water in your skin, in fact it is the oil you are replenishing.

That is why a shower, doesn't moisturise.

In simple terms, your skin barrier is a layer of oil. Because oil reflects water, so it stops moisture from escaping.

Skin barrier damage is like having a leaky bucket.

To stop water from escaping and keep your skin healthy, you need to replenish oils daily, sometimes multiple times a day.

This practice is called emollient therapy and considered vital for dry skin conditions.

Even if you started doing all the right things for your skin today, it could take months for your skin function normally again.

One of the reasons is that your skin needs to function properly to repair itself.

To function properly it needs a healthy skin barrier, and yours is dysfunctioning.

That is a chicken and egg problem. That is why dry, itchy skin can be a chronic problem.

The second reason is that it takes an average of 28 days for your skin to shed and rebuild its skin cells.

So it can take at least 28 days to make any significant changes.